Ohio State hires ex-Buc Schiano as assistant

Ohio State hired former Bucs and Rutgers coach Greg Schiano as co-defensive coordinator on Friday. Schiano, 49, has been out of coaching the past two seasons since Tampa Bay fired him. He spent two seasons with the Bucs, going 11-21.

Before that he led a massive rebuild at Rutgers, taking one of the worst programs in college football and turning it into a consistent winner.

But in the NFL, Tampa Bay went 7-9 in Schiano's first season and 4-12 in 2013. The team had issues on the field and off, with players complaining about his unrelenting discipline and micromanagement.

Ohio State said Schiano's hiring is pending approval from the school's board of trustees.

Schiano replaces Chris Ash, who left to become the head coach at Rutgers.

"He is someone I have known for quite some time now and someone who is going to align with our staff extremely well," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said of Schiano in a statement.

Schiano was in the mix for now-filled head coaching vacancies at Miami, Southern California and South Carolina.

He was defensive coordinator at Miami under Butch Davis, leaving to take over at Rutgers in his home state of New Jersey. He took over a downtrodden program in 2001, and by 2006 Rutgers went 11-1 and finished the season ranked No. 12 in the country, the program's best finish. The following year the Scarlet Knights knocked off USF when the Bulls were ranked No. 2.

In other news, Meyer suspended defensive lineman Adolphus Washington from the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl, a day after the senior was cited by police with a first-degree misdemeanor charge of solicitation.

Navy seeks another victory over Army

PHILADELPHIA — Navy's Ken Niumatalolo is the kind of coach that grabs bags after charter flights home. The kind that hands out water bottles to security guards on a warm day.

No task is too menial for the head of a program that hooked an anchor in the top 25 and has been dominating the most patriotic rivalry in sports.

"All the players see it," quarterback Keenan Reynolds said.

No. 21 Navy (9-2) has beaten Army (2-9) a series-best 13 straight times and 15 of 16.

Army coach Jeff Monken has enjoyed plenty of wins in the series — but none as head coach of the Black Knights. Monken, 0-1 in the series, was an assistant at Navy from 2002-07.

"This (season's) football team has never lost to Navy and that is the way we have to approach it," he said. "These guys are not responsible for the last how many years it's been."

More coaching moves: Alabama hired Jeremy Pruitt as defensive coordinator after he served in that role at Georgia and Florida State. Pruitt was on Mark Richt's staff at Georgia and fills the vacancy created when Kirby Smart became Bulldogs coach. Pruitt, 41, was defensive coordinator and secondary coach for FSU's national title team in 2013. … Arizona State hired Southern Miss offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey for the same positions. … New Missouri coach Barry Odom will make $2.35 million annually in a five-year deal approved by the Missouri System Board of Curators. … Georgia Southern's Willie Fritz reached an agreement to become Tulane's coach.

Volleyball: No. 11 seed Florida upset No. 6 Wisconsin 3-2 to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament in Austin, Texas. UF scored the final three points in a 15-12 fifth set; Rhamat Alhassan led the Gators (25-6) with 24 kills and had two blocks in that three-point span. Florida faces Texas, which beat UCLA 3-1, tonight at 9 (ESPNU).

Soccer: No. 2 seed Clemson defeated No. 6 Syracuse 4-1 in penalty kicks at the College Cup semifinals in Kansas City, Kan., after a scoreless game in regulation and overtime.

There is a reason why the air in Tampa Bay is filled with playoff talk. If Thursday night's 12-8 Bucs preseason win over the Jaguars is any indication, it's also going to be filled with footballs thrown by quarterback Jameis Winston.

TORONTO — Two pitches RHP Chris Archer didn't execute are the ones that stood out Thursday as Josh Donaldson hit them out of the park. But the two solo home runs aside, Archer turned in a sterling outing that went atop the pile of good pitching the Rays keep wasting.

CLEARWATER — Tracey Fritzinger has seen Tim Tebow play baseball a few times this year. The 40-year-old St. Petersburg resident went to two of his games against the Tampa Yankees, along with Joy, her little sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.